10 Things to Know About Litecoin

Before we enter the intricacies and details that concern this cryptocurrency that has taken the world by storm it is best to first understand what it really is so as to create a better understanding further on in the article. Litecoin is a cryptographic currency that is used to make transactions or payments. It is one of the leading cryptocurrencies out there and in Pakistan one Litecoin equals to something around 7,500 rupees. Now that we have had a brief and subtle introduction into what Litecoin is, let us try and learn some facts about this brilliant method of payment. You can read more about it here.

1. Litecoin is the little baby brother of Bitcoin

That is right folks, Bitcoin, the OG cryptocurrency and the great granddaddy of them all, has a younger sibling and it is the one you are reading about right now. Litecoin was made by none other than Mr. Charlie Lee in the year 2011 and right now he is employed as the managing director at the Litecoin Foundation. Litecoin much like bitcoin hopes to replace the dominance of the plastic cards in the economy. Also, much like how one can buy bitcoin with credit card well now you can do the exact same thing and buy Litecoin with credit card as well.

2. Litecoin works on a P2P basis

Litecoin is the type of crypto currency that works using the blockchain technology. It works on a peer to peer basis. The peer to peer basis is the one we refer to as the P2P basis or the P2P network. The peer to peer network allows people who share the same system to communicate and interact with another through the use of the internet. There is no need for a mainframe or a central server in order to ensure that the files have been safely transferred and this allows for the process to be a much faster one. Thus, in other words the same server that is acting as a file storage also becomes the client one is dealing with. An amazing and absolutely beloved feature the P2P network functioning in a decentralised way using blockchain technology is that the cost that is incurred is minimal and the entire process is swift and extremely efficient.

3. Litecoin and Bitcoin

Litecoin is not just a sibling of Bitcoin. It was literally born through the same seed as bitcoin. The crypto currency in essence is a derived currency as the entire source code that makes a up a cryptocurrency and defines it was copied off of Bitcoin with a few minor improvements being made along the way. Improvements such as instant speed and ridiculously low costs were introduced to counteract bitcoin’s shamelessly sluggish speed, massive costs and inexplicably huge energy consumption. Furthermore, one can buy bitcoin with prepaid card or even buy bitcoin instantly with credit card. One can do exactly the same when it comes to Litecoin and in fact Litecoin has followed in Bitcoin’s footsteps by introducing the Litecoin debit card – something that resembles the Bitcoin card. If you would like to read more visit this link.

4. Miners welcomed

For those who are well associated with the crypto world or are an active member of the crypto community will know nicely enough what miners are and what they do. For those of you unaware about miners and mining in the crypto community or the crypto stratosphere have no fear for we are here. A lot of cryptocurrencies function through a blockchain. A block chain is made up of a large number of blocks all related and connected together. All the blocks are made up of nodes. These nodes are the ones where all the data is stored and where all the technical process takes place. Now how mining takes place is a rather technical process much suited for some other time, however, the important part is that miners use these nodes to mine the crypto currency and once one mines a cryptocurrency they are rewarded with a stipend or a reasonable pay. Now since Litecoin uses the blockchain technology as well this means that it is in fact made up a large number of blocks all connected to one another. Since these blocks are made up of nodes and nodes are where the mining process takes place it is safe to say that the mining industry in the crypto community feels well welcomed by Litecoin.

5. Protocol

Now every or at least the infamous, well-known and those crypto currencies that have made it big like bitcoin and ripple all use protocol in order to make their entire network much more reliable, efficient, effective, and safe. Litecoin being a part of the big boys group also uses protocol. However, since Litecoin came after Bitcoin, it came fitted and programmed with a much better and elite version of the protocol. Bitcoin uses a protocol known as the SHA 256, Ripple uses the infamous Ripple protocol that allows the Ripple to act as a gross settlement system, a place for the exchange of currency, as well as a centre for remittances, Litecoin comes with the updated and brand new ‘hashing protocol’ which basically is a larger use of the fingerprint security system making one’s transactions safer and their purchase history much more secure. The algorithm used for Litecoin’s protocol was one based on the script form.

6. The intricacies of mining Litecoin

Despite Litecoin being Bitcoin’s younger brother, it serves to be the more difficult one to handle. No surprises there since the younger ones are always rude and rowdy. Do while all the elder siblings nod in agreement let us make clear to you the real reason as to why mining Litecoin is so much more of a hassle than it is to do the exact same thing for Bitcoin. Litecoin was created using something known as the scrypt algorithm which makes it difficult for the ASIC and other mining software and hardware to mine Litecoin. However, it is not all bad because the fact that mining Litecoin is pretty difficult makes it a reiteration of the fact the Litecoin is in fact a much safer currency than Bitcoin or any other one out there.

7. Litecoin’s volume = 4 times the volume of Bitcoin

Litecoin was designed using a very specific and particular algorithm and that algorithm brought along with it a lot of benefits like safety and versatility. Now here is yet another advantage that came into existence simply because the scrypt algorithm was used to create Litecoin. Litecoin’s algorithm gives the permission to produce up to 84 million Litecoin’s which if compared to Litecoin’s older brother Bitcoin is 4 time the size since only 21 million Bitcoins can be made. Now of course if you wish to get your hands on any of these tokens you had best resolved to buy a virtual debit card or a virtual credit card free. However, one should not limit themselves instead they should spread their wings and should use if they please a PayPal visa card or a PayPal virtual credit card and why stop there why not head over to direct cryptocurrency cards like the crypto credit card, Bitcoin debit card, and Ethereum debit card.

8. Litecoin in the top 10

Litecoin has always held the crypto currency community in a frenzy and thus it does not come as a surprise when one considers the fact that it is by far one of the most successful currencies out there. For now, Litecoin holds the 5th position in the cryptocurrency rat race internationally when we consider the coin market cap charts. Towards the end of the year 2017, Litecoin had a total market cap of around 19 and a half billion dollars with one Litecoin being marked at the price of something around 375 US dollars. No wonder this cryptographic means of payments is in the big leagues.

9. Litecoin’s transaction time is faster than Bitcoins’

One of the major issue that users of Bitcoin always complained about was the time lag that occurred while making transactions. On average, the transaction time while using Bitcoin would always be somewhere around 10 minutes or longer. This extensive time gap led to the annoyance of many of those who used Bitcoin. To these people, Litecoin came as a shining light in dark times since not only is Litecoin’s time span for transactions, payments, or purchases fixed at 2.5 minutes it is also much faster than that of Bitcoin.

10. Litecoin and Verticoin = Swap buddies

In the year of 2017, Litecoin came into an alliance and agreement with the cryptocurrency Verticoin which led to the two being freely exchanged without the support of a third-party exchanging network. The two crypto currencies could be exchanged on the respective blockchain and the reason this whole endeavor became a reality is because of the existence of a little something called the on-chain atomic swap. This was a major event in the history of cryptocurrency and launched the crypto world into yet another frenzy and since then Litecoin has paired up with Bitcoin and Decreed to become what we call swap-buddies in the crypto community. This exchange can be made using a coin card as well if necessary.